“Why should thy son, O Juno, wreak on me His fury, more than on the other gods? My fault is less than theirs who give their aid To Troy; and I will cease, if thou command. Bid him desist, and here I pledge my oath Not to attempt to save the Trojan race From ruin, though their city sink in flames Before the torches of the warlike Greeks.”
This when the white-armed goddess Juno heard, She said to Vulcan, her beloved son:—
“Dear son, refrain; it is not well that thus A god should suffer for the sake of men.”
She spake, and Vulcan quenched his dreadful fires, And back the pleasant waters to their bed Went gliding. Xanthus had been made to yield, And the two combatants no longer strove Since Juno, though offended, bade them cease,
Yet was the conflict terrible among The other gods, as zeal for different sides Impelled them. With a loud uproar they met Each other in the field; the spacious earth Rebellowed to the noise, and the great heaven Returned it. To the ear of Jove it rose, Who, sitting on Olympus, laughed within His secret heart as he beheld the gods Contending, for not long they stood apart. Shield-breaking Mars began the assault; he rushed Toward Pallas, brandishing his brazen spear, And thus accosted her with insolent words:—
“Thou shameless one, thou whose effrontery Is boundless, why wilt thou provoke the gods To strife? Thy temper is most arrogant. Rememberest thou the time when thou didst prompt Tydides Diomed to strike at me? It was thy hand that held his shining spear, And aimed it well, and gave the wound; but now Will I take vengeance on thee for that wrong.”